


Dark Night of the Soul

by Quixotic



Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-14
Updated: 2010-09-14
Packaged: 2017-10-11 19:43:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/116227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quixotic/pseuds/Quixotic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Rose and Dave's connection to Derse leads to a sudden shift in their allegiances, John finds himself trapped and hunted by a friend-turned-enemy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dark Night of the Soul

**Author's Note:**

> This is a speculative fanfiction I wrote in the spring at some point, back before a lot of crucial info-dumps that have since made it wildly inaccurate. There was some theories flying around that Rose and Dave's connection to Derse would corrupt them/make them fight for Team Evil. This fanfiction is an exploration of that idea.

"Work...please work."

My fingers scour the cracked surface of my glasses, coaxing the technology inside into working. There's a flash. A crackle. I pull them back from my face, wincing in the darkness. Electricity stabs at my fingers, but I'm relieved anyway. It's the first bit of light I've seen in a while.

I flick the microcomputer again, swearing under my breath as it gives me another jolt. The screens flicked to life, words and images scrolling over their surfaces as the system groggily reboots. I grin to myself, unshaken as the image jitters and sparks. There's no way I should be putting these things anywhere near my eyes, but I don't have a choice. I have to find her, and this is the only way.

Huddling in a corner, I press myself as close to the walls as I can for cover. I try to ignore the chill that goes through my as my skin brushes up against them. They're cold and slightly wet, slick with oil or something worse. I slide on the Serious Business Goggles, its neural interface instantly responding to my thoughts. It opens up Pesterchum.

It says she's online.

\-- ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering gardenGnostic [GG] --

EB: jade?  
EB: jade, where are you?  
EB: please answer.

I cringe, annoyed by how pathetic my message sounds. I'm old enough that I shouldn't be afraid of the dark. Hell, after everything I've done, there are tons of adults that have more reason to me scared than me.

Well...not anymore, I guess. There isn't a lot of anyone around anymore.

It's not about me anyway, I remind myself. I need to find Jade. Maybe together we can get this back under control. We're too damn close. I won't accept losing now. Not like this. Not to people I thought were my friends. I glare at the Pesterchum window with a renewed sense of determination.

EB: are you okay?  
EB: message me if you get this, alright?

I set it to notify me if she replies, and move to set the computer onto standby. Just as I'm about to, another window pops up before my eyes.

\-- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB] --

TG: dude  
TG: dont make me come looking for you  
TG: its over okay  
TG: youre just going to make things worse

"Shit," I say out loud, slapping a hand over my mouth as I remember where I am. This is Derse. This is evil central. I can't go around making noise if I don't want something - or, more recently, someone - jumping me. I clench my teeth in anger, the goggles reacting to my will.

\-- ectoBiologist [EB] blocked turntechGodhead [TG] --

Slowly exhaling, I glance at my Chumroll before making the inevitable decision.

\-- ectoBiologist [EB] blocked tentacleTherapist [TT] --

Watching their handles disappear from my list of friends, I can't help but reflect on how ridiculous this all is. This can't be right. There has to be something I'm missing. I can't believe they would do this on their own. I feel a flash of remorse for blocking them - what if they needed me?

It doesn't last long, though. I can't risk it. I don't want them to know if I'm online. I don't want them to know anything I'm doing. They already have the tactical advantage. I can't afford to be stupid. I already screwed things up once doing that.

The images on my glasses dim, leaving me with only a meagre view of my surroundings. Everything is draped in heavy shadows, but somewhere off to my left light glints off an object. With no better method of picking a direction, I decide to follow it. I wonder if it's him, but decide that it couldn't be; there's no way I'd see him if he didn't want to be found.

Something flutters in the dark behind me, like wings. I look back in apprehension, and see exactly what I was dreading - a beady pair of eyes, targeting me from the shadows.

The Ghost Suit activates, an ethereal duplicate of my arm lashing out at the source of movement. I feel my second set of fingers grasp something feathery. Then it opens its damn beak, and I know I've blown it.

" _Caw!_ " it screeches, and I move in to smother it seconds too late. " _Caw caw!_ "

Stupid bird!

Several other crows burst out of the shade, soaring past me too fast for me to have a chance of catch them. In a matter of seconds they've disappeared around a corner, belting out their obnoxious cries of warning as they go. I realize at this point that I'm more or less fucked. If I stay here he'll know where I am, and if I run someone will hear me.

The only thing I can hope for is to find a more hospitable battle ground.

I tear off in the direction of the light, with only a very modest attempt at stealth. It doesn't really matter at this point. Part of me wonders why I ever tried to hide in the first place. This isn't going to go away. None of us are leaving here until this is settled - whether that meant us winning, or them.

I'm not sure what 'them' means anymore.

Turning a corner, I found myself in a corridor lined with windows, creepy purple light glimmering through them like the sun through water and providing illumination only in the most rudimentary sense. I narrow my eyes as I enter it, mind racing as I took the couple seconds I had left to try to come up with some kind of plan. Should I make some light? If he was going to see me anyway, wouldn't it be best to have a chance at seeing him first? Or would it only make me stick out more?

God. I have nothing. This is stupid.

The air shifts behind me.

I bring up the Ectoplasm Barrier with less than a second to spare, staggering back as it deflects a gauntlet encased fist just inches from my ear. Before I have a chance to react a blade bites into my side, most of its momentum eaten away by the barrier and the rest absorbed by my jacket. My Strife Specibus activates, calling the Wrinklefucker to my hands.

There's a flood of nostalgia as I feel its familiar weight between my fingers. Of course, I have deadlier weapons by now. Just like the Ghost Gauntlets had been upgraded to interact with my entire body, my signature weapon has grown in power over time. I don't really want power right now, though.

As many times as I've wanted to punch Dave in the mouth, I have no desire to splatter him all over the wall. As I see his broadsword glinting in the light, I wonder if he feels the same way about me.

He steps fully out of the darkness, and I see the dark outline of his coat and armour. Only appropriate for the Knight of Time, if that title even meant anything now. His expression's hidden, as always, behind a pair of mirrored sunglasses - recently modified to give him night vision, I think. A pair sunglasses that I'd given him as a gift, once upon a time.

He always went on about his irony and all that bullshit. I have to wonder - how fucking ironic is this?

"Look," he says, a kind of tension to his tone that I've never heard before. "There's no point to this. You've lost. Get over it."

"Where's Jade?" I manage to spit out, though inwardly I'm stumbling. I don't know what to do or what to say. It really feels like I should have something to say to him, but I don't. They always have something to say in the movies.

"No idea," he says with a shrug. "I'd bet that Rose is taking care of her by now, though."

I feel like my blood is burning with anger, but still can't think of any words. _Think,_ I coax myself, taking my mind somewhere else. This is like a story, right? It's that moment of darkness where the hero questions everything. That moment where their best friends betray them to the dark side, or however it's supposed to go.

It's the bit right before the climax and - hopefully - the happy ending.

 _Be the good guy,_ I think. _Take the high road._

"W-We don't have to fight," I say, realizing how cliché it all sounds. "I mean, we can talk about this. This isn't right. There's no way you'd guys just turn on us. There must be a reason. What's going on?"

"I already _tried_ that," he says, and his fingers tighten around the hilt of his sword. Then he's moving, and I can hardly keep up, parrying each of his his blows and just barely making it each time. Sick of this shit, I hear myself growl, bearing down on the Wrinklefucker and desperately taking the offensive. The floor cracks as the hammer smashes down, narrowly missing Dave as he skitters away and launching me back down the hall with a blast of kinetic force.

Flipping through the air, I hit the ground running.

"Maybe if you didn't have such a fucking thick skull-" Dave shouts after me. "Damn it, Egbert, stop being such a dumbass!"

I burst into the next room, a huge hall that may have functioned as come kind of dining hall, only worn down and decrepit as it hadn't been used in centuries. The 'Glorious Monarch' sure doesn't take care of her place very well. It's brighter here, at the very least.

Or, at least, it's going to be.

I whirl around, anticipating his entrance as I grab a piece of debris and captchalogue it. The Firework Cocktail we'd alchemized only a few days ago goes screaming out of my Sylladex, exploding on the ground just behind him. Heat waves send tremors through the air, and then next thing I know I'm falling on my ass.

He's nowhere to be seen, and I'm panicking. I didn't seriously hit him, did I? I didn't even want to hit him. I'd assumed that, him being so fast, he'd just jump out of the way. Shit...shit! What did I do?

"Dave?"

I'm answered with a firm punch across the face, because apparently he'd just been sneaking up behind me. My glasses clatter to the floor again, and I feel a strong sense of deja vu. I kick at his knees, pushing him back, and giving me enough time to shift an item in my Sylladex and launch a dusty copy of Colonel Sassacre's at him.

He takes the brunt of it in his shoulder, though he's still knocked down. I scramble to my feet, though without my glasses the room is a blur of shadows and firelight.

"I've had about enough of your fucking cheap shots," I say, brandishing the Wrinklefucker in one hand and reaching down to grab my what was left of my glasses. Thank God they still worked.

He was the one that had broken them in the first place. My mind wanders back to what seems like hours in the past, though it's probably only minutes. Back to when this all had started. We'd pretty much been on the freaking door step of Skaia when Dave and Rose wrecked everything for reasons I had yet to figure out.

Now we were in Derse, and I guess they were working for the Monarch. Or something.

"Okay, you know what," Dave says, shoving the tome off of himself. "This is probably going to sound all kinds of batshit to you, but do you think that maybe you could trust me for a second?"

"Hah!" I snap back at him, glaring through my cracked lenses. "Haha...was that a joke? Because it was _hilarious_ , Dave."

He grunts in frustration, getting back onto his feet. We are standing each other down, but he hasn't redrawn his weapon.

"Would you shut up for once?" he barks, though it fades into a sigh as he shakes his head. "I guess you and Princess Sunshine wouldn't have seen it, would you?

"What...?" I begin, but my stomach goes cold as I realize what he's talking about.

"You're not the only ones who sees things at night."

I knew it.

It was no secret that when we slept, Jade and I awoke in Prospit. Being so close to Skaia, it gave us visions about everything that had and was going to be - it's how Jade had always seemed to know more than she should. She'd been dealing with it her entire life, but I'd only woken up to it recently.

Dave was right, though. We weren't the only ones. I guess with the natural symmetry the universe apparently upheld, if we were in the light someone else would have to be in the dark.

Rose was the first one to see it. I remember her waking up screaming the first night it happened. We didn't talk about it much. Unlike our glimpses of Skaia which could be seen as a resource, what she saw sounded more like curse. At best it was an opportunity to gain insight into the enemy's tactics. At worst, it was enough to cause her to stop sleeping.

I was never sure when Dave started seeing it too, but eventually it was hard to ignore. While Jade and I tried to sleep, they would stay up together, talking quietly and trying to keep each other from drifting off. If they ever discussed what they saw or did on the other side, I wasn't allowed in on it. When we offered to try to help them, they shrugged it off. They said we were close enough to winning that it didn't matter.

Apparently they were wrong.

"So that's it," I breathe. "That's why."

"Maybe. Probably not in the way you think." He hesitates. "When's the last time you or Jade saw the future?"

"Not..." I feel suddenly self conscious. "Not since we made it to Prospit. You know that."

Silence.

"Do you remember what your Nanna-Clown said back in the beginning?" he finally asks. I still can't see his eyes, but I can feel the way he's looking at me.

I feel myself backing away. "What part?"

"The part where Team Light Side was destined to lose."

"No," I say, shaking my head. My chest feels tight. "No way, man. We're past that, remember? We said we weren't going to let that drag us down anymore."

He pushes his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. His body tenses again, ready to fight, and I get the impression that talking-time is over. The sword reappears between his fingers. I step back again, bringing up the Wrinklefucker in defense.

"Well, it's true," he finally says. "The only difference we can make is whether or not we survive. That's as close to winning as we'll ever get. Prospit's already lost." The anger returns. He's talking, but I don't want to hear him. He's wrong. _He's wrong._

"I don't want to die for nothing," he says as my knuckles whiten on the grip of my hammer. He's so distracted preaching he doesn't even notice me coming. "And...I don't want to lose y-"

"NO!" I roar, bringing down the Wrinklefucker on him. His sword is up to parry me just in time, but I don't stop. I'm set on shutting him up now, throwing blow after blow at him. Every time he slips away. Finally, a land a hit on the guard of his blade, sending it rocketing out of his hands. I'm sure he has another weapon he could draw, but he doesn't, instead leaping in to deliver a solid punch to my right shoulder.

Pain streaks down my arm, and I lose my grip on the hammer - just as he knees me in the gut and I fall back, losing it entirely. It clanks to the ground as I stagger. He follows after me, not missing a beat. We're just exchanging punches now, but that I'm alright with.

He may be fast, but I _know_ I'm stronger than him.

My hand closes around his arm and I pull him into a grapple. I'm not longer sure where I'm going with this. Maybe if I knock him out or something I can take the chance to find Jade and get the hell out of here. Maybe Dave and Rose will come to their senses if they have some time to think about it.

He's clutching at my arm around his neck, and for a moment we're at an impasse.

"Egbert," he says. "Don't be stupid."

Pain jolts through my arm as as he jams something sharp into it just before my elbow. I let out a cry, pulling back and clutching it, blood seeping between my fingers as I stare at the dagger stuck in me with disbelief. This...this is so not cool.

He punches me again before I can get around to reacting, and another swift kick to my back send me sprawling to the floor. I hack out a cough, stunned by the blow.

"Traitor!" I stammer, not sure what else to do. "You're such an asshole!"

"As if," he says, stepping on my good arm as I go for my Sylladex. "I...Rose...we're doing this for you." He sounds distant for a moment. Thoughtful. "She feels the same way. We talked about it."

"What...?" I ask, dazed by all the blows to my head. He's brought out another sword from his Strife Specibus, and suddenly I'm afraid. "Dave...don't."

"I don't want to lose you people," he says, raising his arm to strike. "You're the closest thing to a real family that I've ever had. That's why it has to be this way."

He drives the hilt into the base of my skull, and the world spins, fading out and losing focus. I collapse, choking on my breath as I begin to black out.

"Even if I have to force you."

And I'm gone.


End file.
